Danville takeaways

10/12/12 9:08 AM EDT

Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan competed in a lively, messy, loud and largely inconclusive debate at Centre College last night. Ninety minutes later, little had changed to alter the trajectory of the race. ...

... Biden got the memo about not duplicating President Barack Obama’s listless sleepwalk in Denver, and seems to have read it repeatedly. Aggressive from the get-go, he threw his hands in the air, guffawed as Ryan spoke, interrupted his rival and belittled him (“this guy,” “my friend.”). He flashed his teeth frequently and grinned incessantly.

Ryan returned punches not quite as hard as he got them — he is not the attack dog Biden is — but bit back by mocking the vice president’s penchant for gaffes (he noted the VP knows as well as anyone that sometimes words don’t come out right).

It was fun for politics lovers, but it’s unclear how appealing the style of the Biden performance was to average voters who were watching. And in those exchanges, Ryan frequently did well by simply keeping calm. And Biden’s open disdain for Ryan was a far cry from the measured, older candidate schooling the newbie performance voters saw from Dick Cheney in 2004.

... Ryan, who seemed to have memorized a number of briefing book lines, mostly held his own, including on foreign policy questions (more on that later). He made no gaffes, and while not dominant at any point, fared well enough for a VP debate. The yawning age gap between them made Biden seem too old at points, and Ryan seem too young at other points.

Neither man seemed entirely ready to be president — but Biden has the benefit of already being the second in command (he was also quicker on the draw, though that’s a debatable skill for the Oval Office, and his constant laughing was a distraction).

It was something of a missed opportunity for Biden, whose flamboyence kept his performance from doing something to thwart the GOP momentum in a clear way. On the other hand, he performed well enough that he didn't throw fresh logs on the he-can't-defend-the-record fire. And Ryan did little to dominate — performing servicably but not in such a stand-out way.

Ultimately, it will do little to change the current arc of a race that will see its next major moment on Tuesday, at the Hofstra University debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.